Raising Funds for the BAsics Bus Tour!
Raising Funds for the BAsics Bus Tour!
We will report in a few days on the results of the efforts to raise $25,000 by the weekend of July 6-8 for the upcoming leg of the BAsics Bus Tour set to begin in New York soon. Volunteers across the country are packing their bags, teams in NY have been spending time in the areas the Tour will be going to… people are beginning to get involved. In order to make all this happen, fundraising for the Tour needs to go to a whole other level… reaching and involving many more people, and giving them the opportunity to be part of something that can make a big difference in the world: a Bus Tour aimed at spreading Bob Avakian’s vision and works throughout society, connecting with sections of NY and the surrounding areas that are most cast off, repressed and brutalized by this system as well as reaching out further to other strata who don’t like this situation… through this Tour, all these people finding out about Bob Avakian, and getting organized into the movement for revolution.
A total of $50,000 needs to be raised by August 1. For the coming week, along with ongoing forms of mass fundraising – the yard sales, tamale sales, events, all of which are essential in the BA Everywhere Campaign, we also want to encourage people do a lot of meetings with individuals about contributing. See this post for a call for matching contributions as one aspect of what people can do (though there are also people who can give larger sums who should be reached about this Tour).
Remember to also ask people for a statement saying why they are contributing and encouraging others to donate too.
Here are some key fundraising materials to use (also see the “What You Can Do” page of this blog):
Video about the last leg of the Tour
BAsics Bus Tour Phone Banking Script (Word file)
“I gave to the BAsics Bus Tour” card (to give to donors as a memento of their much appreciated contribution)
Announcing the BAsics Bus Tour: Kicking off from New York City... Reverberating Across the Country
This is reposted from Revolution newspaper, http://revcom.us:
The BAsics Bus Tour… fresh off its second leg in May, will be heading out in mid-July from New York City. Right now, $50,000 and hundreds of volunteers are needed to make this next leg happen—contributing funds, volunteering for the tour itself, and throwing in, in whatever ways they can, to get this tour on the road.
This leg will be building on—and taking further—the most recent experience with the bus tour which began in Atlanta, Georgia, and made its way to Sanford, Florida. Sanford is the site of the murder of 17-year-old Trayvon Martin by a vigilante, and it is the place where tens of thousands came to protest this modern American legal lynching. (For more on the second leg of the tour, check out basicsbustour.tumblr.com.)
This tour has reached out to, and captured the imagination of, thousands—connecting people with the voice and work of Bob Avakian, the revolutionary leader who has developed a new synthesis of communism. And all throughout the tour, the volunteers have worked to involve people in the campaign to spread BA’s voice and work even further as part of building the movement for revolution. Hundreds of people all across the country came together to make this tour happen—contributing and raising funds, sending support statements, following and spreading the blog posts from the tour, helping to house and feed the volunteers in the places where the tour went. Hundreds were part of sending a message to the people of Sanford through signed banners with quote 1:13 from Avakian’s BAsics featured in the centerspread of this issue.
Be Part of Taking the BAsics Bus Tour Higher
This is reposted from Revolution newspaper, http://revcom.us:
People have begun to volunteer and teams are beginning to be assembled to build for this leg of the tour. But in order to make this tour happen, and for it to reverberate across the country—many hundreds need to be involved nationally and in NY itself. $50,000 is needed to have a real impact—in this region… and across the country. The situation in the world is demanding that people know about Avakian’s work, and have a chance to be part of the movement to bring a radically different world into being. This is a crying need—and if we are able to reach out far and wide, tap into the inspiration and excitement (see the statements of support at basicsbustour.tumblr.com) that the boldness of this bus tour has garnered, and organize cores of people to come together and raise the funds in broad and creative ways—this can be made possible.
Stoop sale raises funds for the revolution.
A very successful stoop sale held near the public housing projects raised $143 to pay for thousands of palm cards featuring the “No More Generations…” quote (BAsics 1:13). Most of the items, clothes for adults and children, used kitchenware, books etc. were donated by people from the projects who support the movement for revolution.
“No more generations of our youth, here and all around the world, whose life is over, whose fate has been sealed, who have been condemned to an early death or a life of misery and brutality, whom the system has destined for oppression and oblivion even before they are born. I say no more of that.”
— Bob Avakian, BAsics 1:13
Getting Ready for the BAsics Bus Tour
This is the first piece from one of the BAsics Bus Tour volunteers. Volunteers will be blogging from the road in near-real-time. Stay tuned and share with others!
Getting Ready for the BAsics Bus Tour
From a correspondent
It was close to 2 am when a few of the other volunteers and I finally sat down to talk after a send off party for us as we head out to be part of the BAsics Bus Tour – we were already getting a feeling of what wrangling into the night was gonna be all about! The party was hosted by two young supporters of the revolution. It was an evening where people celebrated the BAsics Bus Tour and got involved in supporting it. It was just a taste of how lively debate and discussion is opened up when you bring BA into the mix. It also made a dramatic impact for those at the party to encounter this diverse group of people that have decided to get on a bus and go on tour with this, and the different types of people coming together in a myriad of ways to make this happen.
People came to this party who had never encountered the movement for revolution before, or who had come out in the streets protesting the murder of Trayvon Martin and were just starting to check it out, as well as veteran revolutionaries and volunteers getting on the bus. Food was served for $5 a plate, folks talked and hung out and then sat down together to hear more about the Tour and to hear from a couple of the volunteers.
